International Rock Gardener Number 9 The Scottish Rock Garden Club September 2010 ----International Rock Gardener---- September 2010 In IRG 8 we brought the sad news of the death of the great plantsman and seed collector Jim Archibald. We felt that his contribution to our gardening community was so significant and the widespread reaction to his loss so heartfelt that we should make further mention of Jim's work over so many years - the like of which we are unlikely to see again. With the sheer number of JCA (James Cartledge Archibald) and JJA (Jim and Jenny Archibald) reference numbers in the plant collections of so many of us, not to mention the other seed provided by them through their seed lists, the spread of "Archibald Seed" through both private gardens and the nursery trade has been very broad indeed. By its very nature, seed is readily transportable and even now still able to be traded around most of the world, meaning that a seed business can have a much wider effect on the dissemination of plants around the horticultural world than plant sales can achieve. Without Jim and his ilk we would be restricted to only native plants in our gardens and that, while giving interesting possibilities in many cases, would not meet with too much enthusiam from the average gardener. Let us take as an example a vegetable - it would be tough on the rest of the world if only the South Americans could grow their own potatoes and enjoy them straight from the garden! ----Mountains in the Gardens---- JIM ARCHIBALD, PLANT HUNTER EXTRAORDINAIRE (1 September 1941 – 9 August 2010) by John Watson “Dear John & Anita, “This introductory paragraph is a brief (general) note to our oldest and best friends … The prognosis (for me) is not good.” A touching personal farewell then followed: “Look after yourselves and keep collecting. There are not many of us left, almost extinct. Definitely rare and critically endangered.” Jim Archibald, 20 June. 2010. By action and reputation Jim became a figure on the international specialised horticultural stage. Nothing of his on the written page indicated a given geographical origin. Yet only hear him speak, and the modulated regional accent that was pure Edinburgh and never altered throughout his life immediately betrayed his proud identity. Jim was as unmistakably Scottish through and through as Stuart tartan, a haggis or, and we don’t doubt he’d love this one – Bonnie Scotland’s prominent, flamboyant-blooming and prickly national flower, the thistle! Tributes have been made for Jim from many people in many countries, and have covered his varied talents and activities. It seems singularly appropriate to have one penned by one of his contemporaries in, as he sadly and prophetically reflected, the rarefied and diminishing world of plant exploration and introduction. So I offer a heartfelt, nostalgic and I trust honest remedial contribution from my own parallel – if limited – viewpoint. “Plant collecting is arduous and exacting work, the least part of which, as it has been said, is the finding of the plants. … Farrer described it as ‘the most harrowing form of gambling as yet invented by humanity’, and declared that a shilling packet of seed would be cheap at sixty.” Nicola Shulman, ‘A Rage for Rock Gardening’: 87-88. (2001). It might be supposed that plant collectors in their small, esoteric and highly specialised world must needs form a tight and supportive brotherhood. Ah, what a naïve, unreal, Utopian dream (we can just imagine Jim snorting over his pipe at the very idea). Oh yes, like fans of the Old Firm all sitting down to a peaceful, civilised tea party together after a fixture at Ibrox or Celtic Park, perhaps? Check history, Dear Reader. Your average plant hunter is prone to be a suspicious, jealous, paranoid, territorial lone-wolf of an animal. He isn’t beyond the odd sneaky trick either, to conceal from www.srgc.org.uk ----International Rock Gardener---- rivals the communal bounty of Nature he has unilaterally declared belongs to himself and himself alone. (Male gender only here: I fondly suppose any of our kind among the fair sex to be less aggressively competitive, if no less intrepid!) Think of that other indomitable Scot, George Forrest, vs Reginald Farrer (another wordy, pedantic English fellow!) or anyone he considered to be invading his patch (i.e. most of China). “Some orchid hunters were killed by other orchid hunters.” and “When men working for rival growers crossed paths, they sometimes killed each other … Both (plant) hunters were heavily armed and belligerent. After boasts and threats and a display of side-arms they nearly ended up in a duel.” Susan Orlean, ‘The Orchid Thief’: 67-69. (1998). Fortunately, that level of intensity had largely evaporated from our chosen genteel pastime by the time Jim’s and my generation arrived on the scene. Indeed, I have a happy and indelible memory from the late 60s of a carefree gathering over a meal in London after a Vincent Square RHS show. It consisted of a fair collection of us, a handful of then neophytes enjoying each other’s company and swapping anecdotes. As I recall, we included at least Brian Mathew and Jim himself, with Margaret Merritt, Sydney Albury and Martyn Cheese from the bunch that made up my teams. Crocus mathewi - named for Brian Mathew photo JIY Trillium ovatum ‘Roy Elliott’ –fine very dwarf form grown from seed collected by Wayne Roderick (who was head of the California native section at the U.C. Botanical Garden for 24 years) and raised and named by Kath Dryden VMH. photo by Mike Ireland Roy Elliott was then the highly regarded and authoritative Editor of The Alpine Garden Society Bulletin. He avuncularly dubbed the leading lights among us ‘Young Lions’, and regarded us as heirs to Farrer, Forrest et al., the shining new hopes for continuing plant introductions. (Perhaps ‘mini’ Farrers and Forrests would be more appropriate in that swinging era of Mary Quant!) Alas, only two of those just mentioned are like me, alive and kicking still. Scientia longa, vita brevis. www.srgc.org.uk ----International Rock Gardener---- Fritillaria alburyana honouring Sydney Albury photo JIY When working in the field around roughly the same time and places, both we and Jim used to impute any freshly dug holes encountered in Turkey to each other though we only found out years later that he and his blamed ‘That Watson lot’, while our villain was always ‘The Arch-fiend Archibald’. There was also our jocular and irreverently Pythonesque New to Science hymn. This we sang to the tune of Bread of Heaven (correctly Cwm Rhondda, what a remarkable anticipation of Jim & Jenny’s home region!), belting it out at triumphant maximum decibels following particularly fruitful sites as we ‘landrovered’ across Turkey. Refrain: ‘New to science, new to science. Found by us and us alone, us alone … Found by us and no one else. Not by Davis, Not by Mathew, Not by J.C. Archibald … Archibald. Not by J.C. Archibald.’ etc., etc. (Polunin, the Furses and any more were fitted into the verses.) Including such horsing about, rivalry was largely friendly, comparative and twofold. It served as a measure of competence in our early and less secure days. We also appreciated we were bound together collectively. We had to do well, satisfy the desperately limited number of specialised subscribers we all shared, and fill them with confidence. They must be kept convinced that to continue digging into their pockets for ‘expedition’ shares was a Good Thing. So: How were we matching up to the rest? And: Were they cutting the mustard? For all that, we basically worked individually, as most collectors always have. Few are those perfect, persistent partnerships such as Ludlow & Sherriff, Ruiz & Pavón (but think of poor, maltreated, cast-aside Dombey) or Humboldt & Bonpland. There’s usually too little glory and gain to go around for more than one. If a partner or team is needed, collectors such as Peter Davis, Jim, Brian Mathew and I have tended to take on board competent lay outsiders or amateur enthusiasts who represent little or no threat to our career profiles (with exceptions, such as Davis & Polunin). Even so, familiarity in the field can breed slightly more than contempt: “12 September: R[eginald] has been more annoying today than I have ever seen him. Some day soon I will beat him up. He has the superiority in brains but at least I can hurt him bodily & if I begin his will be a fruity sight.” - So wrote Euan Cox (left) of the Scottish family of plant-hunters, authors and rhododendron growers, on a personality clash with Farrer. The ideal, of course, is the inseparable marriage pairing. Paul and Polly Furse are probably the most celebrated couple, being immortalised in Eremurus furseorum, Scilla (or Fessia) furseorum and Sempervivum furseorum. left: A detail from an original watercolour 'Gazania Hybrids' by Rear Admiral John Paul Wellington Furse, artist and botanist. right: Campanula 'Paul Furse' photo RobinPearce/ Worlds End Garden Blue-violet flowers on arching stems with a branching habit. www.srgc.org.uk ----International Rock Gardener---- left: American plant hunter Dan Hinkley V.M.M. with Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones of Crûg Farm Nursery in North Wales. photo by John Grimshaw We might cite in addition the pairings of Bleddyn & Sue Wynn-Jones from the UK and Rod & Rachel Saunders of Silverhill Seeds from South Africa. Jim and I also co-incidentally hit that happiest of jackpots as J&JA, Jim & Jenny Archibald, and F&W, Anita Flores de Watson & John Watson.